Typhon, Heavy Flak Discussion.

[Zenark]

So again, I stuck a low level gunner (level two this time) on my Merc/Flak Spire, told him how the ammo worked on that gun, and let him have a field day killing ships at all ranges.  My gungineer used buffed charged rounds on the Merc while the gunner used Lesmok, charged, and loch. The Flak absolutely still has extreme killing power at long ranges. We didn't get a lesmok kill without our ally keeping the target distracted. We used lesmok on a charging Pyra to cause some damage, then the charged as he gets closer, and finally the Loch, easy kill. The same pyra tried to charge us a few more times, only getting us once from a well coordinated sneak ram.

Lesmok's change in no way makes the Flak useless, nor even harder to use. Seriously, try using it in a fight instead of speculating what the changes have done.

I find the change better simply for the fact that I have seen the flak used considerably less, meaning more kills for me and my crew. <3

[awkm]

This.

We didn't get a lesmok kill without our ally keeping the target distracted.

This is how the game was meant to be played.  This is why we will never do 1v1 maps.  It was a huge mistake having them in the early days.  This is why Squids are useful

[N-Sunderland]

I'm gonna go ahead and say this: I retract my original opinion. This isn't a nerf to the heavy flak. If anything, the extra range is a buff. But I still think the gun could use some help, since its role is very niche.

[Kharthynogus]

Idea puke time:

If I could mess with the flaks, I'd give them both explosive direct damage and shattering AoE damage, make them medium-long range weapons with much less jitter (if any), give them an arming time that makes them useless at short range, make their clips 3 to 4 times larger, and then balance damage as needed. Basically, I'd like to see them in a long-range support role (engine/gun disablement and hull destruction).

This of course would create overlap with the Mercury and Artemis. So, I would make the Mercury either piercing only or piercing with a very very small shatter radius. As for the Artemis . . . idk, maybe we could do something whacky with it, like a wire-guided function where you have to turn the gun to guide the missile to its target (tech was developed for this by the germans in WWII, but it's probably just a little too high tech lol)

Make both mortars explosive only (direct and AoE), eliminate their arming time, add a touch of jitter to them, and cut their range down some, so they're limited to melee-short range engagements.

Just throwing things on the table to make flaks more interesting *shrugs*

[N-Sunderland]

Why would you want the lumberjack to be pure explosive? That'd leave us with three explosive heavy guns, one of which would be ridiculously overpowered.

[Kharthynogus]

Why would you want the lumberjack to be pure explosive? That'd leave us with three explosive heavy guns, one of which would be ridiculously overpowered.

Like I said, it's just a random idea. My main focus was on making the flak cannons more interesting, not so much changing the other stuff.